MESSENGER OF THE GODS
Smoke hung in the air even up on castle grounds. There was no getting away from it, but Karigan had heard that the fires were dying down on their own, which sounded suspiciously as if there were some magic behind it.
She trotted Condor along the Winding Way through the hazy dark. Ben had done something when he touched her in the throne room to make her lungs well, but now she wore a scarf over her nose and mouth to protect them. She worried the smoke would make her sick as it had after having inhaled so much at a lumber camp in the north when ghosts had used it as a means of communicating with her, but thanks to Ben, she felt all right. A little tired, maybe, but not suffering from the all-encompassing need for sleep as her previous true healing.
Mason had likewise attended to Condor, and she once more thanked the gods that the Riders now had an animal mender among them. Condor snorted as he trotted on with his usual vigor, his hooves rapping out a sharp report on the street.
Though the hour was nearly midnight, there were many folk out and about. A good number of them were soldiers and guardsmen, and her fellow messengers, but also other folk who had been displaced by the fire, and those wishing to help them. They rushed along like ghosts in the haze. She did not need a moonstone to show her the way. Unlike the lower city, streetlamps had been lit, and they cast a misty, golden glow.
She was bound to stand watch on the middle wall. She smiled thinking the notion not so grim as she’d have thought it just a while ago, for Mara had given her the news that Zachary and his forces had reached the Scangly Mounds. She wasn’t happy just because he was bringing his army, but because it presented the mere prospect of seeing him again.
Before she reported to the gate captain, however, she had a message to deliver. She reined Condor by the fountain that stood on the plaza in front of the city’s chapel of the moon, an edifice of granite and marble that stood above most buildings in the vicinity. Evacuees sat on the rim of the fountain’s basin or on the chapel’s vast steps. Children ran across the plaza. Others had spread out blankets on the hard paving so young children and elders alike could rest.
Moon priests and acolytes moved among the weary and frightened people, offering sustenance and prayer where they could. One, however, in his stark white robes, stood on the top step before the great doors of the chapel. The luin prime. Torches to either side of the door created a halo about him as he gazed out upon all the activity below.
She halted Condor when she saw familiar faces—Little Penny, the baby, and their siblings and parents.
“You all made it,” Karigan said.
They looked up at her in surprise, and she pulled her scarf down so they could see who spoke to them.
“Oh, Rider!” the mother, Elise, cried. “We made it thanks to you.”
Karigan dismounted. “I was happy to carry Little Penny and the baby out of the lower city.”
“You didn’t help just the littles,” Elise said. “I mean, you helped all of us.” She cradled the baby in her arms. The tiny mite cracked his eyes open at Karigan and immediately howled. “We saw your light and followed it. You led us out of danger.”
Karigan smiled, despite the baby’s reaction to seeing her again. “Glad I could be of some help.”
“Hey, everyone!” Elise yelled loud enough to drown out even the baby, and now Karigan knew from whom he got his lungs. “This is the Rider with the silver light!”
The shout and announcement startled Karigan and roused many of the people in the plaza. They started to come forward, the young and old, by ones and twos, and in groups, and they all gathered around her and Condor. A small girl reached out to lightly touch her sleeve and look up at her with earnest eyes.
“Thank you, Rider,” she said.
A gentle murmur of thank yous came from the assembled, and someone said, “You gave us hope.” There was a chorus of assent.
“Messenger of the gods,” others said.
“Oh, no,” she responded with a smile. “I am an ordinary messenger of the king.”
But they all seemed to want to touch her and Condor as if by doing so some blessing of the heavens would rub off on them. There was gratitude in their eyes, awe, as well, and even tears.
Oh, dear, she thought.
“The Spirit of Light,” they said. “Messenger of the gods.”
“I’m glad I could help, but I’m just a Green Rider,” she told them over and over, her feeling of discomfort growing.
“You led us out of destruction,” a grizzled old man said.
“She carries Aeryc’s light in her hands,” one woman told another, and others repeated it and agreed.
She didn’t know how many surrounded her—a hundred? Two hundred? All wanting to touch her arm or shoulder.
“I’m a regular messenger,” she insisted, “a Green Rider.” She turned round and round looking for a route of escape.
“Blessed by Aeryc.”
“Spirit of Light.”
“Messenger of the gods.”
She had to end this now. “You’re welcome,” she told them. “But I need to see the luin prime. Please let me through.”
They parted, creating a solemn silent path for her and Condor. Condor blew through his nostrils and swished his tail as she led him away. Best as she could tell, he had enjoyed the attention. She glanced over her shoulder and all the people were watching her. The baby had stopped howling.
She left Condor at the base of the stairs and climbed. The luin prime watched her approach, his expression one of displeasure.
Uh oh, she thought. She’d heard from Anna and others that he did not like Green Riders very much. His demeanor said as much.
When she reached the top step, she bowed. “Luin Prime Brynston, a message for you from Her Majesty the queen.” She removed the message from her satchel and handed it to him. He took it without a word. His expression lightened as he read it, but his fair features darkened once more when he gazed at her.
“Have you a response you’d like conveyed to the queen?” she asked.
“No.”
She’d been told not to expect one. She shifted uncomfortably waiting for him to excuse her.
“Is there something else, Your Eminence?”
“Yes, there is.” He leaned toward her. He wasn’t just unhappy; he was incensed. She took a step back. “You Riders with your evil abilities are bad enough. Your ancestors should have been eradicated long ago.”
She couldn’t help but gape at the waves of hate that seemed to roll off him like heat. Apparently he knew about Green Rider abilities.
“You messengers exert undue and corrupt influence over our king and queen, over their decisions and court life, and their personal lives.”
Karigan’s toes curled in her boots. Was he implying he knew something about her and Zachary? Or, maybe he was referring to just her friendship with Estora.
“You are unclean,” he continued. “The lot of you, with your cursed magical filth, and yet I tolerate you because they do.” He leaned even closer. “But this display out here, courting the people to exalt and look worshipfully on you as though you were sent by the gods, fashioning yourself as one among the heavens when you are the spawn of the hells. That, I cannot abide.”
“It’s all a misunderstanding,” Karigan began, suddenly afraid he would clout her there on the steps.
“Silence. Know that I am not without power and influence in court. More so than you might imagine, and as head of all moon priests, I will, by the gods, see you branded for heresy.”
Karigan backed away without being excused, shivering at how ugly and twisted his beautiful face had become. She turned and ran down the steps to Condor as the luin prime hurled imprecations after her, everyone on the plaza aghast as they watched the scene.
“Deceiver! False idol!”
She swiftly mounted and trotted back onto the Winding Way.
He hadn’t liked how the people had responded to her. It had made her uncomfortable, but it had definitely riled the luin prime. She could sort of see why, but he was overreacting. And did Estora, who so often counted on his companionship and counsel, realize how much he hated magic and Green Riders?
Would he really brand her a heretic? It would require a trial and everything. It wasn’t so long ago that those deemed guilty were burned at the stake. How would he react if he knew she actually did have a link to the gods, that she had served as an avatar to Westrion?
As she neared the gate, she tried to push thoughts of Prime Brynston to the back of her mind. There were more important matters to worry about at present. Perhaps over time, the luin prime would forget about her.
Karigan rubbed her bleary eyes as she stared into the graying of dawn. She’d been assigned a spot a ways from the action. Apparently Major M’Gyre had requested her, despite the fact Karigan had tried to kill her in the midst of her berserker rage, to stand watch on the east wall of the middle city.
Even in the predawn light, there wasn’t much to see. Smoke hung over various neighborhoods in the city below, though the one that skirted the wall had not been touched by fire. She still wore her scarf over her nose and mouth even though most of the fires had died out or smoldered. Unless a good wind came through, the smoke would just linger.
The archer beside her yawned. His name was Rol and he was only thirteen years old. He’d been a refugee with his family from D’Ivary when the Darrow Raiders were terrorizing the countryside. Hunting had made him a superior archer, so he’d been assigned to the wall, though on a quiet section, in deference to his age.
“They’ll be coming around with tea and bread soon,” he told her with the air of a veteran.
“Good,” she replied, “I’m starving.”
“I’m always starving,” he said.
Karigan smiled. Considering his age, she wasn’t surprised. He kept her entertained and awake through the night with tales of his sisters and brothers in what sounded like a large and boisterous family. She wondered what it would have been like had her mother not succumbed to fever, to have had a sister or brother, maybe even a half dozen or more siblings. Then she recalled the images of an alternate life she’d experienced while under the power of the whisper wraiths, and frowned.
“Hey,” Rol said, “didya see that?”
“See what?”
He pointed down below, but she didn’t see anything.
“The smoke and shadows may be playing tricks,” said an older archer, named Graves, who stood nearby. “I know I’m about seeing double at this point.”
Karigan could relate, but she scanned the area before the wall carefully. It was silent, too silent, and nothing moved. Then someone down the wall shouted, and suddenly arrows filled the air.